a new book due out in May 2012 from Tessa Dunlop. I discovered her watching the History Channel on Sunday. I gotta ask… Does this chick look anything like any historian you know?! I’m thinking more like one of Charlie’s Angels! Wow. All those looks and smart with it. All of which combined to get me reading about Romania. I’m thinking I’ll do a study of it in 2012. Just looking at the Wikipedia article (yeah, I know, but I love Wikipedia anyway) had me thinking it needs to go on my places-to-visit-before-I-shuck-off-this-mortal-coil-list.

Tessa Dunlop was born and brought up in the Scottish Highlands, and studied Modern History at Oxford University. She became a broadcaster in the late 90s, starting out in phone-in radio on numerous stations including LBC and BBC London. She has since fronted several history documentaries for Discovery, BBC, and American History Channel. Her most recent venture is as the new presenter / historian on BBC2’s Coast. She has written for various publications including the Times, Guardian, Independent and Mail, and is currently finishing a Masters at Sheffield Hallam University where her research subject is Queen Marie of Romania. To Romania with Love is her first book. She juggles her time between London, Scotland and Romania. [From Amazon.com bio]

Please do go check out her blog here and learn a bit more than most of us know about what’s going on in Romania. You go girl! The new book:

Book Description – Publication Date: May 31, 2012

Aged eighteen, Tessa Dunlop went to post-Revolutionary Romania to work in an orphanage – to do something ‘remarkable’ to help her get into Oxford. Once there she didn’t want to leave and ended up staying for a year. Her experience made Oxford life difficult. She returned a year later during her summer break, but this time chose a big industrial city where she taught English and befriended a student and his family. The youngest son, ‘Vlad’, was only twelve and very shy, but also fiercely intelligent. Once more Tessa was emotionally hooked. Back home in the Scottish Highlands, she organised for Vlad to be sponsored by her old boarding school for a term. He aced his classes, but, conflicted in the wake of his extraordinary experience, turned down a full-time place. They lost touch when Tessa’s broadcasting career took off but the pull of Romania proved too much and, five years on, she revisited the orphans and Vlad. Life would never be the same again. Tessa had fallen in love with Vlad, a teenage boy miles away in northern Romania. They’re now married with a beautiful daughter. [Description from Amazon Books]

View from Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) of the Town of Bran - Wikipedia photo

Isn’t that just gorgeous?! I have a thing for castles and Romania has one of the most famous. Dracula’s castle in Bran. Which is a beautiful European city (town?). Yep, definitely going on the list!!